John McCain Quotes

If my acceptance of the office of Governor would serve my country, though my administration would be attended with the loss of personal credit and reputation, I would cheerfully undertake it.

The highest patriotism is not a blind acceptance of official policy, but a love of one's country deep enough to call her to a higher plain.

My whole life was service to people and the Fatherland.

That we are to stand by the President right or wrong is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.

I want no presidency; I want to do my duty. No denunciations here, or out of this House, can deflect me a single inch from going directly at what I aim, and that is, the good of the country. I have always acted upon it, and I will always act upon it.

President Reagan always gave the credit to the American people and American ideals. He treated his job as a valuable temporary loan from the American people, a loan that should be respected and returned with dutiful appreciation.

There are things a man must not do to save a nation.

He gave up all to serve the republic. Omnia relinquit servare rem publicam.

If I, in my brief connection with public affairs, shall be wicked or foolish, and if you remain true and honest, you cannot be betrayed. My power is temporary; yours as eternal as the principles of liberty.

A good subject makes it his rule to prefer the public welfare to everything else, bravely to sacrifice his fortune, and his private interests, and even his life, for the preservation of the state; and to employ all his abilities and his industry to advance the honor, and to procure the advantage of his native country.

And even if I were alone, ... I should have the consolation ... to the last moment of my existence ... that no word of mine has tended to the squandering of my country's treasure or the spilling of one single drop of my country's blood.

I grew up in a house where service to the country was a way of life, not a means of reaching a personal goal.

I wanted to put the national interest before my personal interests.

If you want to serve in a Trump administration, you're going to serve this country, not yourself.

My mother and father were partisan national heroes: I learned sacrifice and discipline from them and that a private life is not as important as the message you want to leave.

In America, our differences matter, but our country matters more. That's the attitude I wanted to take to the Senate.

It is repugnant to an American to inform upon his fellow citizens.

I have nothing but unreserved praise for our armed forces, paramilitary and internal security forces. Their sacrifices to preserve the integrity and unity of our country present a saga of unparalleled courage and discipline.

I am a big fan of the following priorities: first the country, then the party and then the person. I believe that this gives credibility and I want to be credible.

I did not become president to be popular. To work, to lead, to protect and preserve our country, our people, that is why I became president.

I want it understood that all these men fought for principle, not for plunder, and that they were true-hearted, honorable soldiers, fighting for what they esteemed was a righteous cause.

That statesman is indeed happy who can count as his friends the really honest and consistent, the true Patriots, and the men of honorable thought.

If you can ask a young man to give his life for his country, you can lead people.

England expects that every man will do his duty.

Do not calculate what I have done, for I shall accept no recompense. Calculate the public advantage, the welfare and liberty of my country, and believe that I shall refuse no burden, no danger, provided that, at the hour of tranquillity, I may return to private life, for there now remains but one step for my ambition - that of arriving at zero.